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Cummings Foundation Donates Funds to The Community Family

The Community Family is one of 33 local nonprofits awarded a total of $10 million from Cummings Foundation through its new Sustaining Grants program, which provides funding for up to 10 years. Anne Marchetta, executive director, and Marion Dunn, director of the Everett Center, represented the non-profit at a May 3 awards night at TradeCenter 128 in Woburn.

The Community Family (TCF) provides adult day health care to elders, adults with disabilities and those with Alzheimer’s disease at its three centers in Everett, Medford and Lowell. TCF provides care to 325 adults each year and 120 adults daily at its three centers, providing medical care, therapeutic activities, nutrition, and social services, benefitting both participants and their caregivers. The Everett center, located in a residential area on Wyllis Avenue, is TCF’s newest and busiest center, caring for an average of 60 individuals each day.

Anne Marchetta, executive director of The Community Family, said, “We are overwhelmed by the generosity of the Cummings Foundation. They have been a great partner to us over the past five years and we look forward to deepening our relationship over the next 10 years. This grant will help move our programs and services and ultimately, our care, to its greatest heights ever.”

The Cummings Foundation funding will enable TCF to sustain and enhance its Activities Programs, which are an essential component of the participants’ days. Programs include music, exercise and art therapy classes, entertainers and other special events, and an interactive computer technology among others. Together, these activities provide meaning, self-expression, and purpose for an often vulnerable group.

The Sustaining Grants program builds on Cummings Foundation’s $100,000 for 100 program. First offered in 2012, $100,000 for 100 annually awards $10 million through multi-year grants of $100,000 each to 100 nonprofits that are based in and primarily serve Essex, Middlesex, and Suffolk counties. The Community Family was a 2013 $100,000 for 100 grant recipient that received their final grant disbursement in 2017 and was automatically considered for the new funding initiative in 2018.

“Long-term financial support is rare for nonprofits, making fundraising a constant and time-consuming task for organizations like The Community Family,” said Joyce Vyriotes, deputy director of Cummings Foundation. “The Sustaining Grants are intended to provide some relief, allowing them to focus more of their time and energy on delivering and enhancing their important services.”

Sustaining Grants winners were selected primarily by a 40-member volunteer committee, which included former state legislators, CEOs of companies and organizations in Greater Boston, a retired justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, and a noted Boston Globe reporter, among many others. Committee members conducted two site visits with each nonprofit to learn how the $100,000 for 100 funds helped to advance its mission, and how it might put a 10-year grant to use.

The complete list of 33 grant winners is available at www.CummingsFoundation.org.

Cummings Foundation has already awarded more than $200 million to date in Greater Boston alone, and it will award an additional $200 million over the next 10 years through the $100K for 100 and Sustaining Grants programs.

For 40 years, Everett-based The Community Family has successfully kept thousands of adults safely in their homes and communities for as long as possible, preventing premature nursing home placement or isolated care in the home. TCF improves quality of life for both its participants and caregivers through its excellent care and the crucial respite and support it provides to caregivers. Their services are the most affordable form of long-term care and a pro-active response to the challenges of providing community-based care to an aging society. Additional information is available at www.communityfamily.org.

Woburn-based Cummings Foundation, Inc. was established in 1986 by Joyce and Bill Cummings. The Foundation directly operates its own charitable subsidiaries, including New Horizons retirement communities in Marlborough and Woburn. Its largest single commitment to date has been to Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. Additional information is available at www.CummingsFoundation.org.